AAFA Hails Resolution on Counterfeits
The American Apparel and Footwear Association, which is lobbying for passage of Shop Safe (Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-commerce), thanked the bill's sponsor, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., for bringing forward a resolution on anti-counterfeiting and consumer education and awareness.
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The Shop Safe bill would create contributory liability for e-commerce platforms where certain counterfeits are sold unless sellers have registered agents or addresses in the U.S. so they can be served; the seller's identity is verified; and the platforms remove and ban repeat offenders, with a procedure for trademark owners to request the removal of counterfeit goods' listings. The bill failed to pass in the previous Congress, though it did get out of the House Judiciary Committee.
The trade group said on Aug. 1 that Coons and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, were calling "crucial attention to the importance of trademarks in the economy and the role of trademarks in protecting consumer safety" through the resolution that passed the Senate just before the recess.
"Through better education and more effective public policy, we must all work to combat counterfeiting. The seemingly insatiable appetite for fake goods, combined with the relative ease through which these knockoffs are found on third party marketplaces, means more Americans than ever before are exposed to dangerous and irresponsibly produced goods," AAFA CEO Steve Lamar said.